Fans of Capcom's Resident Evil love the franchise both for its zombies and unique brand of survival horror. However, outside zombie-animal hybrids and massive bosses are some quirks that make Resident Evil a recognizable game in the genre. For instance, fans might remember the infamous "Jill Sandwich" line and other weird dialogue pieces—not to mention the voice acting—from the first games in the series.
Moreover, fans who stayed for the long haul will recognize the series' rather humorous approach to character growth. For instance, Claire becomes a pure badass, Chris will get bigger muscles, and Leon will sport fantabulous hair. Unfortunately, some things fans might notice about the game's approach to story and gameplay throughout the years might end up not making any sense.
Updated on March 21, 2022, by Rhenn Taguiam: With Resident Evil Village rocking the survival horror scene with a slow return to Resident Evil canon in 2021, multiple new Resident Evil media were released to reinvigorate interest in the franchise. One such recent release was Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City, a live-action film serving as both a reboot of the film franchise and a retelling of the first two games. With Welcome To Raccoon City giving a more refined and realistic look into the series, some fans may notice things within the Resident Evil canon that don’t necessarily make a lot of sense.
14 Why Aren’t Local Enforcement Prepared?
While it’s completely reasonable for the Raccoon City Destruction Incident to have taken the world by surprise, events afterward shouldn’t give law enforcement any excuse to come unprepared for such new outbreaks. As spinoff games like Resident Evil Outbreak and media like Marhawa Desire showed, the threat of bioterror incidents reached the likes of the media and incited international action.
However, it’s quite interesting for other Resident Evil media to still depict horrific outbreaks, as though law enforcement weren’t briefed on how to handle such situations. Examples of these would include the Harvardville Airport outbeak (Degeneration), or even the C-Virus Outbreaks in Tall Oaks and Lanshiang. One would think that Anti-Bioterror Organizations would at least brief local law enforcement on what to do in the event of bioterror attacks.
13 Why Aren’t There Conspiracy Theories About Raccoon City?
Prior to the events of Resident Evil 4, it’s implied that the Raccoon City Destruction Incident led to widespread knowledge with regards to global bioterrorism. To summarize, the Destruction Incident directly led to the resignation of the United States President and the subsequent fall of the Umbrella Corporation. A Daylight vaccine was also manufactured to directly combat the effects of zombification viruses.
However, the games make it known to players that the United States military wanted to cover up the destruction of Raccoon City, although the effort has failed spectacularly during the fall of Umbrella Corporation. Given the highly-sensitive nature of the situation, it’s interesting that conspiracy theories regarding the nature of the Raccoon City Destruction Incident are largely absent from the series. Adding these could definitely add a layer of mystery and thrill to the franchise, especially to the civilian side of things.
12 Why Aren’t There Other Anti-Bioterror Organizations?
Since the fall of Umbrella Corporation, the respective survivors of the Raccoon City Destruction Incident went their separate ways and ended up in various anti-bioterrorism efforts. Of these events, the most significant was perhaps the creation of the largest counter-bioterrorism organizations in the games, including the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), the Anti-Bioterrorism Forces (ABF), and even the recent Blue Umbrella.
However, the lore reveals two interesting things about the nature of these organizations. First and foremost, wide-scale counter-bioterror efforts such as those from the BSAA don’t seem to be funded well by sponsors. Moreover, it seems there’s a lack of counter-bioterrorism organizations at large. Both of these facts are interesting, considering the known fact of bioterrorism being a global threat.
11 Why Aren’t Pharmaceutical Companies Scrutinized?
Although a humorous point at best, it’s an inside joke among fans that it’s large pharmaceutical corporations that truly cause all the global bioterrorism mayhem in the Resident Evil franchise. This is why it doesn’t make much sense that other pharmaceutical companies aside from Umbrella Corporation aren’t heavily scrutinized despite the bioterrorism incident the former caused - which led to the destruction of an entire city!
Glossing over post-Raccoon City outbreaks, one could immediately identify the correlations between “seemingly-benevolent” pharmaceutical giants and bioterror outbreaks. Aside from the obvious Neo Umbrella, other suspicious-yet-overlooked pharmaceutical firms in the series include TRICELL, Shen Ya Pharmaceutical, and WP Corporation.
10 Why Didn't They Just Use Herbs?
Herbs have become one of the best things about the Resdient Evil games, as they force players to decide to either use resources now or hold out for a precious red herb to come along. Interestingly, Resident Evil eventually ties to tie in these herbs with the lore. As such, later games eventually had medical organizations encourage households to cultivate these herbs due to the rising bioterrorism threats.
However, said "bioterrorism threat" actually trace their roots to the Progenitor Virus, as in the virus that started the entire virus trend in the first place. As fans might remember, the original point of the Progenitor Virus would be the creation of an "improved version of the human race." Given the healing properties of the herbs, why didn't Umbrella focus its efforts on improving the human body's ability to heal with these herbs?
9 Why Is Everyone A Sharpshooter?
Resident Evil zombies are terrifying not only for their appearance but for their durability, as well. They can only be effectively dispatched with a headshot, making them a huge threat to the firearms novice.
Granted, the protagonists in the first games receive some sort of firearms training. However, only STARS members seem to have realistic firearms training advanced enough for them to pull off constant headshots. After all, Leon's first day as a police officer thrust him in the middle of the outbreak. Moreover, Claire is practically a civilian, but she somehow ends up becoming a natural shooter.
8 Why Are Protagonists Immune?
Of all the surprising things in the Resident Evil franchise, it's perhaps the fact that almost all protagonists suddenly end up being immune to viruses in the game. For instance, zombies and monsters almost always scratch protagonists or damage them in some capacity. However, how come this amount of damage never leads to infections?
We know, we know—it's just plot armor. Interestingly, the game almost always swings things in the protagonists' favor, even in cases of infection. For example, Jill Valentine's T-Virus infection in Resident Evil 3 will inevitably have someone synthesize perhaps the only known cure for her. Likewise, Leon Kennedy gets infected with the Plaga in Resident Evil 4, only for the virus to be removed from his system later in the game.
7 Why Aren't There Good Bioweapons?
Fans of the Resident Evil franchise know that their protagonists will eventually have to face tougher bosses throughout the game's levels. These bosses, called Bio-Organic Weapons (BOWs, Bioweapons), serve as the main enemy of the anti-bioterrorism efforts of organizations in the game.
However, if games like Operation Raccoon City showed that there's a way to control Nemesis, then why can't other anti-bioterrorism organizations use BOWs, as well? This argument might cause a moral dilemma on the subject, but it seems practical to avoid more casualties if an existing BOW could be "converted" and used against bioterrorists.
6 Why Is It So Hard To Open A Door?
Ah, doors, the bane of every Resident Evil player's existence. If a door exists, it's likely locked. Moreover, locked doors in Resident Evil usually require obtaining a set of keys hidden in a room only unlocked by certain seals that can be accessed by playing a song on a piano. Suspension of disbelief aside, players do love the puzzles in these games. After all, they force players to explore and discover more of the game's setting.
However, these puzzles do eventually break immersion. For instance, how come the Spencer Mansion, a supposedly lived-in place, requires so many seals just to access doors? Moreover, do people in RE 4's village just perpetually prepare traps in case an outsider arrives?
5 Why Does Anti-Zombie Training Come With MMA?
Long-time fans of Resident Evil would notice a few gameplay changes across the years. After all, the first three Resident Evil games started out with grim premises that forced players to traverse a dilapidated mansion and a ruined city. As such, the narrative continues with governments and organizations teaming up to stop the bioweapons threat around the world. Thing is, middling titles RE 4, 5, and 6 transform protagonists into action stars.
Somehow, anti-zombie training also ended up training protagonists to be top-notch fighters. Granted, Leon did work for a counterterrorism agency in RE4, while most of the over-the-top action happens in animated films and quick-time events.
4 Why Is It Over-The-Top?
Speaking of action, why did these middling titles even become so over-the-top? Granted, new releases like Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 8 try to bring the franchise back to its survival horror roots. However, one can't deny that seeing Chris Redfield become extremely serious at the end of RE 7 after he and the other protagonists got a little weird in previous installments.
Moreover, gamers can't deny just how ridiculously cheesy some Resident Evil titles got when it came to their setpieces. For instance, some parts of the game had protagonists ride a motorcycle while a tank follows them in pursuit. Leon also had to outrun a boulder at some point in RE 4. Meanwhile, Chris had to punch boulders in RE 5.
3 What's With The Rocket Launcher?
Fans of Resident Evil games will recognize the Rocket Launcher at the endgame of any title in the franchise. After all, this seems to serve as the one weapon that can land the final blow to the Final Boss in the game. Moreover, they come with extremely limited ammunition. If that's the case, why is it even here?
Sure, at this point, the Rocket Launcher serves as more of a novelty in the games. After all, protagonists have managed to kill larger bosses and tyrants with their fair share of automatic weapons. How come it's only the final boss that deserves an over-the-top Rocket Launcher final attack?
2 Why Isn't The Missile The First Option?
Protagonists Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, and Leon Kennedy made it just in time in their own games before the government's top-secret missile decimated Raccoon City. After that, organizations seem to send these same protagonists to investigate "possible outbreaks" in areas all over the world. However, if the government can deploy an actual missile to resolve a zombie outbreak... why isn't this the first option? Won't it make logistical sense to apply scorched earth and only then send in a team to investigate?
We understand that this course of action will open its own can of worms and an entirely new moral dilemma. After all, what if there are survivors? Isn't this just careless violence? However, when the safety of the world is at stake, this moral dilemma should've been a more regular topic in the franchise's narrative.
1 What Happened To The Merchant?
The games introduce quite a number of minor characters, some of which appear only in their respective games. These include Sheva Alomar in RE 5 and Helena Harper in RE 6. However, there's one minor NPC that actually sparks an interesting question for the entire narrative. Whatever happened to Resident Evil 4's Merchant?
In the game, this enigmatic figure in purple serves as Leon's primary source of weapons. Moreover, the Merchant has so much firepower that one would wonder why he isn't helping Leon in his journey at all. In fact, the Merchant might have more than enough firepower to pulverize every zombie and boss in the game.
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City premiered on November 19, 2021.